Patna: In a major setback to the ruling Janata Dal (United) regime in Bihar headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar, social welfare minister Perveen Amanullah Tuesday resigned from the government, party and also her seat citing hurdles in carrying out her departmental works freely and lack of transparency in the system.
Amanullah, the daughter of diplomat-turned-politician Syed Shahabuddin has not announced which party she will be joining but said the “options are open”.
“I hereby resign from my post, the party (the JD-U) and also from my assembly seat,” Amanullah told a hurriedly-convened press conference here yesterday saying she was finding it quite difficult to carry out her works freely. She has already submitted her paper to the chief minister.
Before joining politics during the last 2010 assembly polls, she was actively engaged in social works and had launched active campaigns to cleanse the system, in company of another lady Rekha Modi, a close kin of former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).
“While in government, I was finding it hard to effectively carry out social works and hence I decided to resign and return to my previous works again,” she claimed. She also alleged there was lack of transparency in the party as well as system.
She had joined the JD-U only four years back and using her contacts with the powers-that-be, she finally got a ticket and won. Subsequently, she was inducted into the Nitish Kumar government. Also, she was one of the prominent Muslim faces of the party and thus her resignation is being considered a major setback to the JD-U now battling hard to strengthening the party base and keep its flock together post split with the BJP.
“Her resignation indicates the prevailing revolts among the lawmakers over the dictatorial attitude of the chief minister Nitish Kumar,” commented Rashtriya Janata Dal spokesman Ram Kripal Yadav, adding the countdown of the Nitish Kumar government had only just begun.
